Scott Jurek
has won the Western States 100 mile run an incredible 7 years in a row. This year he topped it off by winning and setting the new course record at the Badwater to Whitney ultra (135 miles from lowest point in the US, Badwater at 280 some feet below see level to Whitney portals crossing Death Valley in July; like many runners, Jurek "unofficially" summited Whitney after winning the race).
He is interviewed at Runners World online. I have never met him, but always had the impression he was a private person who struggled a bit with all the attention and publicity that came his way. He comes across very well in the interview as a modest, but very focused athlete.
I was interested to see he'd like to run Comrades but knows he isn't fast enough to be competitve there:
I'd certainly like to experience Comrades some day, but to win it, you have to be basically a 2:14 marathoner. So I don't see it as a distance where I can be competitive
posted by Dr. Andy @ 8:50 AM
2 Comments:
I have to admit that I haven't kept up with what has happened at Comrades lately. I know that Alberto Salazar once won that race (the "down version"?) when he was well past his zenith; he would have been hard pressed to run a 2:14 that year. Then again, Salazar is a remarkable (or was) athlete who always performed better than his natural speed would indicate.
But, Jureck has nothing to prove; he has whipped all comers at the very long races.
But then again, once in a while Gebresillase would drop down to run a 800 meter race even though he would get beat.
2:14 may be an exagerration but South Africa has very good distance runners and I think winning Comrades would be quite lucrative, while winning Western States is not.
I've wondered what the field would look like if one year Western States offerred a $100,000 first prize.
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